Proof 5 from “The County Election”

This proof, or test print, was made using two distinct techniques for incising a design on a metal printing plate: etching and engraving. The printmaker John Sartain began with etching. First he coated the surface of the steel plate with an acid-resistant ground such as wax. Next he used a sharp point to draw the design through the ground. Then he set the plate in an acid bath so that the acid would eat into the plate along the lines he had exposed with his needle. Sartain then turned to engraving to strengthen the image. He used a sharp metal tool to incise additional, sharper lines directly into the plate. The plate was inked and wiped clean, so that ink remained only in the incised lines that had been etched and engraved into it. When a dampened sheet of paper was pressed against the plate, the paper absorbed ink from the incised lines, producing this proof.